Gindalbie ramps up Karara project

There has been plenty of debate surrounding Gindalbie Metals license to pipe water from Mingenew to their Karara mine site east of Perenjori. So how will such quality water be used and what will the site's one billion dollar processing plant mean in terms of local employment?

As granted by The Department of Water, Gindalbie Metals can draw up to five billion litres of water per annum from the Mingenew subsection of the Parmelia aquifer.

The water is needed to process magnetite iron ore at the mine's one billion dollar processing plant, due for completion in June next year.

Steve Murdoch is the CEO of Karara Mining and says that although the investment is expensive, processing saleable magnetite ore as opposed to lower grade, hematite or 'direct shipping ore', will have greater returns for the State.

"The Karara iron ore body is of low grade quality and virtually unsalable in its current form... It needs this form of processing to unlock the value from the ore body," he explained.

Unlike hematite, obtaining magnetite ore requires a more complex method of processing and thus more water.

With a level of salt already exciting in the ore, as well as a high level of water recirculation throughout the plant (a cause for salt levels to build up over time) the project requires a fairly high level of water purity.

"[Too much salt] affects the chemical process and also the corrosion on the plant so we have to have a balance."

Now on the homestretch, Mr Murdoch says that the project will ramp up in term of local recruitment and employment.

"As the project goes into production we'll have about 500-600 direct jobs for stage one," he said.

"And we've got almost a decade of upgrade activities ahead of us, and at that level we're talking around 17,000-18,000 jobs out of Karara."

Listen here as Gindalbie Metals CEO Steve Murdoch speaks with ABC Midwest's Glenn Barndon about the use of water at the Karara site, the project's reliance on the Oakajee Port and Rail and what it will offer in terms of local employment.

The Department of Water have approved the licence permitting Gindalbie Metals to draw five billion litres of water a year from the Mingenew subsection of the Parmelia aquifer.
(ABC TV Landline, Steve Johns)